Ohio Jurors See Where Priest Allegedly Killed Nun In 1980

The jurors walked through the hospital chapel's sacristy Friday morning, a seemingly stoic group on a grisly tour of a crime that has chilled this city for more than a quarter-century.

One morning in April 1980, a nun found the mutilated body of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl sprawled on the floor of the tiny room.

On Friday, 16 jurors brushed past wooden drawers filled with priestly vestments, taking in the place where a killer struck as the 71-year-old Pahl was preparing for communion services.

The Rev. Gerald Robinson -- a popular and now-frail 68-year-old Roman Catholic priest who helped preside over Pahl's funeral Mass -- is charged in her death.The nun was choked so hard, the blood vessels in her eyes burst and bones in her neck were crushed. While she was still breathing, the killer stabbed Pahl 31 times.

The killer then pulled down her undergarments, prosecutors said, and left her exposed on the floor.

"It may have taken 26 years to solve this murder, but we have done so," prosecutor Dean Mandros told the jury earlier in the day during opening arguments at Lucas County Common Pleas Court. "Later is better than never."

Standing behind Robinson, resting one hand on the priest's shoulders, defense attorney Alan Konop countered that no evidence directly tied his client to the crime.

He said DNA from evidence, including samples taken from beneath Pahl's fingernails, did not match Robinson's.

He also said testimony from newly found witnesses contradicted statements taken at the time of the killing.

"There are important inconsistencies and discrepancies in the evidence," Konop said.

"There will be reasonable doubt ... to the point that the puzzle pieces don't fit."

Slumped in an orange leather chair -- his face pale -- Robinson spent most of the morning listening to the opening arguments with his eyes closed.

The priest, on leave from the church and free on bail, could face life in prison.

During Friday's court session, Mandros told the jurors that Robinson was considered a suspect early on.

Police found a letter opener, in the shape of a sword, in the priest's residence, just down a hallway from the sacristy.

At least one witness saw Robinson outside the chapel right before the slaying, Mandros said, and another witness heard footsteps racing from the sacristy and down to the priest's rooms.

Soon after the discovery of Pahl's body, Robinson told police that he'd heard the confession of the person who killed Pahl -- but later admitted he lied.

The case languished until 2003, when an unidentified woman told officials that Robinson was part of a group of priests who had sexually molested her when she was a child and forced her to take part in satanic rituals.

Police then decided to re-examine the Pahl case, asking outside experts to review the evidence.

Among other things, Mandros said, they found that cuts in an altar cloth, as well as entry wounds on the nun's body, matched the letter opener's four-sided blade. *